Advantages and Disadvantages of Hormesis to Herbicides in Agricultural Production

In 1943, the term hormesis was first used to define the beneficial effect of toxic substances to a certain characteristic of an organism (SOUTHAM and EHRLICH, 1943). In plants, the effect of hormesis can be promoted by many chemicals, such as herbicides (DUKE et al., 2006). To describe the hormesis, dose-response curves are generally used.

Regarding the hormetic effect, there are differences of opinion, because while some researchers consider hormesis an induced adaptive response, others consider that hormesis occurs at any cost, and may also lead to less development of another part of the plant that did not suffer hormesis. In plants, the hormetic effect comes from different stimuli that vary depending on the species, the moment the product is applied, which chemical molecule is applied and the way the product acts in the plant's metabolic process (REIS et al., 2021).